“I suppose,” she said after a pause, “although I may not speak about what lies before me in the future, and you must die some time, Uncle Edward, that I may at least ask you to supply me with the needful?”
“The what, dear?”
“The needful. Chink, you know—chink.”
Squire Wynford sank slowly back again into his chair.
“You might ask me to sit down,” said Evelyn, “seeing that the room and all it contains will be——” Here she broke off abruptly. “I beg your pardon,” she continued. “I really and truly do not want you to die a minute before your rightful hour. We all have our hour—at least mothery said so—and then go we must, whether we like it or not; so, as you must go some day, and I must——Oh dear! I am always being drawn up now by that horrid wish of yours that I should try to be an English girl. I will try to be when I am in your presence, for I happen to like you; but as for the others, well, we shall see. But, Uncle Ned, what about the chink? Perhaps you call it money; anyhow, it means money. How much may I have out of what is to be all my own some day to spend now exactly as I like?”
“You can have a fair sum, Evelyn. But, first of all, tell me what you want it for and how you mean to spend it.”
“I have all kinds of wants,” began Evelyn. “Jasper had plenty of money to spend on me until I came here. She manages very well indeed, does Jasper. We bought lots of things in Paris—this dress, for instance. How do you like my dress, Uncle Ned?”
“I am not capable of giving an opinion.”
“Aren’t you really? I expect you are about stunned. You never thought a girl like me could dress with such taste. Do you mind my speaking to Audrey, Uncle Ned, about her dress? It does not seem to me to be correct.”
“What is wrong with it?” asked the Squire.